Google puts the hammer down on Google parodies

Google has apparently contacted at least one website that was hosting a Google …

Google has apparently contacted at least one website that was hosting a Google parody and demanded that they take it down (another site claims to have been contacted, as well). A Belgian parody of Google (cached here) was apparently unfunny to the Google Team, who sent a takedown notice claiming that the parody diluted the value of their trademark.. Google argued that the parody site was violating its trademark because it has a similar domain name (goegel.be), similar layout, and acts as a search engine. Of course, its acts like a search engine only to the extent that it actually passes a user's query on to the real Google, which then takes control. The sites themselves are humorous because they have plenty of inside jokes on the page and, more importantly, are written in dialects that are not known by many. The Belgian example, for instance, is in Flemish.

The takedown notice was rather curious in its use of American law, given that the site is at a Belgian web address, but it appears as though the server itself is hosted in Houston, Texas. Google's demands were also curious. They insist not only that the parody stop, but that the domain be transferred to Google. See, it's all fun and games until you make a parody of a Google site.

If Microsoft did this, half of the planet would explode. Don't be evil, mm'kay!

Oh no!

Ken Fisher / Ken is the founder & Editor-in-Chief of Ars Technica. A veteran of the IT industry and a scholar of antiquity, Ken studies the emergence of intellectual property regimes and their effects on culture and innovation.